Ginio 2006 Impact of Egyptian Trade on Salonica

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WHEN COFFEE BROUGHT ABOUT WEALTH AND PRESTIGE: THE IMPACT OF EGYPTIAN TRADE ON SALONICA Author(s): EYAL GINIO Source: Oriente Moderno, Nuova serie, Anno 25 (86), Nr. 1, THE OTTOMANS AND TRADE (2006),

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EYAL GINIO

(THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY)

WHEN COFFEE BROUGHT ABOUT WEALTH AND PRESTIGE: THE IMPACT OF EGYPTIAN TRADE ON SALONICA

Haci Ibrahim bin Mustafa, the "fat one" (sisman), as his friends and ac

quaintances knew him, died in 1744. He left an estate that would take up a remarkable five pages in the Salonican sicily where most deceased Salonicans' assets were summed up in only a few lines. Haci Ibrahim's assets included many lucrative possessions like jewellery, silverware, a black female slave, and property situated inside the city walls of Sal nica. The description of his estate reveals not

only the deceased's wealth, it clearly alludes also to the sources of his fortune: Haci Ibrahim was an importer of coffee and cotton from Egypt and an exporter of tobacco from Karadag (present day Koronoyda in Greece) to Egypt through the Salonican port. To convey the merchandise to the harbour, he would hire caravans of camels. His estate description further reveals the profusion of com mercial networks and ties that he had established with partners, traders and

money-lenders; the registration refers to merchants from locations situated deep inside the Balkans - such as Sarajevo and Manastir (present day Bitola)

- who, at the time of his death, owed him debts for the coffee and cotton that he had sold them. In addition, he had two partners who dwelled in the Egyptian port of Rashid (Rosetta) and who supervised the transactions in this distant port city. Haci Ibrahim did not limit himself to export and import dealings alone: he also used to trade red and black grapes in a shop situated inside the city; he owned flocks of sheep that he grazed on the meadows of Avrathisar (modern Kilkis), selling their meat to local butchers and their hides to tanneries; and, finally, he

was a money-lender, providing Christian villagers and monks with often huge loans, while he himself borrowed from the endowments of the merchants in the

Egyptian market and the grape-sellers ( z mc ler)} Haci Ibrahim's economic and commercial activities, which extended to both

shores of the Mediterranean and the hinterland of the Balkan Peninsula, must have placed him as a leading merchant of his time. However, his imprint, as well as that of any other Muslim merchant, is almost totally absent from the major volume that deals with the commerce of Sal nica in the 18th century. Written

by N.G. Svoronos and published half a century ago,2 the book offers a general

1 - The Historical Archives of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Sicil [Thessaloniki] TH/IER volume

68 page 62 - hereafter sicil 68/62, 20 Rebiy lewel 1157 [3.5.1744].

2 - N.G. Svoronos, Le commerce de Salonique au XVIIIe si cle, Paris, Presses Universitaires de

OM XXV n.s. (LXXXVI), 1, 2006, p. 93-107 Istituto per l'Oriente C. A. Nallino - Roma


94 EYAL GINIO

survey of the commercial activity that took place in this port city. His study is based primarily on French consular documents and European travellers' ac

counts. Svoronos' main thesis is that the 18th century brought with it unprece dented growth in Salonica's commercial links with western Europe, especially France. This thriving activity was to a large extent under the domain of Euro

pean merchants. However, among the locals it was mainly Ottoman Greeks, and to a lesser extent, Ottoman Jews, who benefited from the burgeoning com

merce. The local non-Muslims served the Europeans as brokers, money-lenders and exchangers, translators, and mediators between the foreigners and the local authorities and traders. Only in the second half of the 18th century, following the successive wars between the European powers, did the local Greeks succeed in penetrating this commercial activity and handling a growing share of it. Fur thermore, they enhanced their share in the trade traffic by taking advantage of their ties with the expanding Greek diaspora living in the main European ports and commercial centres. This economic growth, in turn, contributed to the

emergence of a powerful Greek bourgeoisie and a flourishing Greek diaspora that controlled much of the Ottoman foreign commerce. These new and ex

panding commercial elites were responsible in many ways for the emerging na tional consciousness among the Greeks.

A decade after Svoronos, Stoianovich, who labelled members of this new elite the conquering Balkan orthodox merchants , depicted the Salonican Greek Orthodox traders as part of an inter-Balkan merchant class that succeeded in taking the traditional place of the Jewish, Armenian and Muslim merchants.

They became the human catalyst which joined the Balkan people to Europe, both by their commerce and ideas .^

This paper does not aim to challenge either of these theses, which still prove to be well grounded; rather, my principal purpose is to suggest that relying

mostly on European historical sources may reveal only a part of the Ottoman re

ality at the time. In the current context, their exclusive use resulted in a concen

tration upon only one segment of Salonican commerce.4

The sicily the registrations of the Salonican seriat court, presents the local narrative. It clearly discloses that the European commerce was only a part of the

mercantile activity in Sal nica at least until the 1770s; no less important was the domestic long-distance commerce between the ports of the Aegean Sea and

Egypt. Sal nica, along with Izmir, Chios and Rhodes, was one of the major stops on this route that terminated in Istanbul. In many cases, when Egyptian products were scarce, these different ports vied with each other for the privilege of unloading the Egyptian merchandise in "their" harbours. Eventually, all of them had to submit to the exigency of first supplying the capital with the much-needed

France, 1956.

3 - T. Stoianovich, "The conquering Balkan Orthodox merchant", Journal of Economic His

tory, XX (1960), p. 234-313.

4 - On this possible methodological bias, see also Suraiya Faroqhi, "Trade and revenue collection in later sixteenth-century Sal nica", OM, n.s. XX (LXXXI)/1 (2001), p. 101.


WHEN COFFEE BROUGHT ABOUT WEALTH 95

products. In addition, I will argue, the city's domestic and international commerce was

not utterly neglected by the local Muslim population. On the contrary, Muslim merchants held the lion's share of the Egyptian commerce. It is pertinent here to

quote Molly Greene's recent observation that in the commercial historiography of the Ottoman empire..., despite some recent stirrings, the Muslims are rele

gated to the overland routes while the Christians monopolize the sea .5 Against this background, my aim in this paper is to delineate the importance of the Sa lonican commerce with Egypt, and its significance for the local population, and to present the merchants who handled it

- overwhelmingly local Muslim mer

chants, known in the sicil as the Misircilar - and their prestigious status in the social and administrative life of the city.

Coffee: the Mainstay of the Egyptian Commerce

Throughout the 18th century Egypt remained the wealthiest province of the Ottoman state. Its wealth stemmed, first, from its own agricultural products, such as rice, sugar and wheat. Other products that were imported through its

ports further enhanced the attractiveness of Egyptian trade. The geographical position of Egypt suited its use as a major transit harbour for a broad range of

products imported from Africa and the Red Sea region. The primary commod

ity traded in the 18th century was Yemeni coffee.6 Most Egyptian goods were imported through the then-prosperous port of

Rashid (Rosetta) - "the port of Cairo" in the parlance of the Salonican scribes. This port served as a principal stockade warehouse, a place of exchange for

Egyptian goods and as a transit port for merchandise arriving through the Red Sea trade - especially the coffee beans. The coffee trade of Egypt apparently reached its peak during the first half of the 1700s. One must remember that the introduction of the competitive French colonial products to local Ottoman mar

kets took place only in the second half of the 18th century, and then only gradually.7 Until then, Sal nica, like many other Ottoman cities, was a fervent and loyal consumer of the Yemeni coffee. The local authorities strove to meet the constant demand.

The sicil does not reveal the full scope of the Egyptian commerce; it gives random lists of ships' types, their captains' names (most of them were Greeks), the merchants' names, the quantities of staples that were brought on the vessels, the merchants' share in the cargo, and the customs and other payments the mer

5 - Molly Greene, A Shared World: Christians and Muslims in the Early Modern Mediterranean,

Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2000, p. 6.

6 - Daniel Crecelius, "Egypt in the eighteenth century", in M.W. Daly (ed.), The Cambridge

History of Egypt, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1998, vol. 2, p. 59.

7 - Andr Raymond, Artisans et commer ants au Caire au XVIIIe si cle, Damascus, Institut

Fran ais de Damas, 1974, vol. 1, p. 108-164. On 18th-century Rashid and its evident af

fluence, see A. L zine and A.R. Abdul Tawab, "Introduction l' tude des maison anciennes de

Rosette", Annales hlamologiques X (1972), p. 149-205.


96 EYAL GIMO

chants had to pay to the state and its local agents.8 Such records do not enable us to quantify the Egyptian trade. Nevertheless, they permit us to assess the im

portance of this commerce as it was understood and viewed by the local authori ties. Panzac observes that the inter-Ottoman trade was superior in value to for

eign trade throughout the 18th century.9 It can be added that while the Euro

pean commerce brought lucrative goods into the city -

chiefly manufactured

products like textiles - trade with Egypt provided the city with some of its basic

staples - rice, coffee, indigo, cotton, henna, and spices. The Egyptian rather

than the European commerce, thus, gave the local authorities the means to fulfil one of their most important and rudimentary tasks towards their subjects

- to

provide them with their basic food and meet their everyday needs. Here lies the

significance of the Egyptian trade to Ottoman Sal nica. Without a doubt, coffee was the main staple that reached Sal nica through

the Egyptian port in the 18th century. The long story of the transformation of coffee from a menacing beverage associated with the "notorious" coffeehouse into a respectable beverage consumed by all levels of Ottoman society has al

ready been told.10 The only indication of connecting the coffee in Sal nica with other illicit beverages, like wine, was the administrative grouping of the official

registers concerning the tax-farms (mukataa) of coffee customs together with those on wine and arak,11 and the infamous reputation of coffeehouses as a

place of improper behaviour: in one sultanic decree the closure of several coffee houses was ordered since it was known that young boys (k' ek) danced there be fore janissaries.12

Notwithstanding the last example, the Salonican sicil demonstrates the full acceptance of coffee and its evolution into one of the basic commodities, to the

point where the state regarded its regular import essential to preserving the well

being of its subjects, especially those who inhabited Istanbul. Only in times of

shortage were the people of Sal nica denied their regular supply of coffee on the

grounds that the needs of Istanbul had to be met first.13

8 - See, for example, the following document that registered the customs collected from 16

merchants, ten Muslim, three Jewish and three Christian, who unloaded their coffee imports from a ship owned by Kostantin Reis who arrived with his cargo from Cairo: sicil 7/13, evail-i

Cemaziyelahir 1110 [13-22.11.1698].

9 - Daniel Panzac, "International and domestic maritime trade in the Ottoman empire during the 18th century", InternationalJournal of Middle Eastern Studies, XXIV (1992), p. 202-203.

10 - On the introduction of coffee into Ottoman lands and its economic importance to do mestic and international commerce, see S. Faroqhi, "Coffee and spices: official Ottoman reac tion to Egyptian trade in the later sixteenth century", Wiener Zeitschrift fur die Kunde des Mor

genlandes, LXXVI (1986), p. 87-93; R. Hattox, Coffee and Coffeehouses: The Origins of a Social

Beverage in the Medieval Near East, Seattle and London, University of Washington Press, 1985; Amnon Cohen, The Guilds of Ottoman Jerusalem, Leiden, Brill, 2001, p. 50-59.

11 - See, for example, the registration of the tax-farm for the year 1110 [1698-99]. Sicil

7/151, undated.

12 - Sicil 101/58, 5 aban 1176 [18.2.1763]. 13 - See, for example, sicil 82/29, 11 Muharrem 1166 [17.11.1752].


WHEN COFFEE BROUGHT ABOUT WEAL TH 97

In addition, the state was keen to ensure the regular import of coffee as it was an important source of revenue in the form of customs or, more likely, in

the annual leasing of tax-farms (iltizam) to local well-to-do persons; in most cases these were local Jews who were able to offer satisfactory bids for this privi lege. These tax-farmers provided the state with a sum of money fixed in their contracts in return for the right to collect the customs as their own revenue.14

Moreover, the coffee that reached Ottoman Sal nica was not imported only for local consumption; large quantities were sold in the port to merchants arriving from all over the Balkans. Sal nica, like its counterpart Rashid, served as a tran sit port for the Egyptian goods on their way to the Balkan interior.

The importance to the local authorities of the profitable trade with Egypt is clear. But how did local Salonicans perceive this branch of commerce? To begin with, the prevalence of Egyptian commerce in the Salonican economy is well manifested even in the name of the principal market located in the port area

-

"the Egyptian market" (Misir arsisi). This demonstrates that in the Salonicans'

eyes maritime commerce was almost a synonym for Egyptian trade.15 A similar trend can be seen from a claim submitted by Albanian porters who worked in Sal nica's docks; when they asked the court to acknowledge their exclusive and

general right to carry goods from all ships that moored in the port, they defined it as the right to unload all goods that arrived from all directions

- Egypt, Izmir

and other places - in this order.16 The relevance of the Egyptian commerce to

the Salonican economy and consumption is evident, and, consequently, its al lure for merchants is clear. Yet, the initiation and implementation of such a trade were not simple as Egypt was a far away province situated on the other side of the sea. The import of Egyptian goods required the establishment of trading networks that would link the two shores of the Mediterranean, thus facilitating their flow.

Sal nica and its Sectarian Networks of Commerce

Abdurrahman Aga bin Abdullah, the kethiida, lieutenant, of the janissary garri son stationed in Cairo, submitted a claim to a seriat court in Cairo in 1697. His claim offers insight into the risks involved in this inter-regional commerce. Ab durrahman Aga told the local court that he had reached a deal with a certain Haci Mehmet bin Abdullah, a merchant from the Egyptian market in Sal nica.

According to the agreement, the claimant had pledged to supply the Salonican with coffee and rice in return for a specified sum of money. The claimant had, he said, delivered the commodities, however, Haci Mehmet bin Abdullah died before paying his debt. The claimant asked that the debt be recovered from the

14 - See, for example, sicil 10/13, 15 Zilkade 1115 [21.3.1704].

15 - In documents from around the middle decades of the 18th century, I also found some

references to the existence of the so-called "Izmir market" (Izmir arstsi) in the port area - a re

flection of the growing importance of the trade with Izmir as well.

16-Sicil29/146, 8 Rebiy lewel 1131 [29.1.1719].


98 EYAL GIMO

dead merchant's inheritance.17 This kind of claim that stemmed from the unex

pected death of a partner is not rare in the Salonican siciL However, in this specific case the creditor, though a high ranking officer, faced a considerable hindrance to the collection of his debt: while he was in Cairo, the merchant's inheritance was

kept in distant Sal nica, closely looked after by the guardian of the merchant's or

phans. In order to get his money back, the claimant had to take recourse to com

plicated legal procedures that took place both in Cairo and Sal nica. Indeed, one of the main problems involved in inter-regional commerce was

the need to invest large sums of money away from home and to take the risks that are innate in such activity. The Egyptian trade required large amounts of

capital and investment in order to initiate long-distance commerce, and the risks were high, such as the potential loss of cargo due to sinking in rough seas, the violent sudden winds that could break the ship and drown its staff and cargo, and the threat of attacks by Christian pirates (mainly Maltese). All these risks

appear regularly in the sicil files.18 The urge to reduce the financial risk of mari time commerce contributed to the development of dependable maritime insur ance in pre-modern Europe. In the Ottoman state other measures were adopted.19 One way of circumventing, or at least diversifying, the financial risks and dimin

ishing expenses was to share them. The sicil discloses references to partnership contracts concluded between the two shores of the Mediterranean - that is to

say, agreements that linked merchants who were established in Sal nica with their counterparts in Rashid.20 Sharing the ownership of a ship, travelling be tween the two ports, was yet another option to decrease the merchant's ex

penses.21 Shipping the precious cargo on European vessels could considerably reduce the menace of attacks by Christian pirates. This last option was widely used. In a sultanic edict it was mentioned that in the year [1] 170 [1756-57], 32

foreign ships, loaded with coffee and rice, plied the waters between Egypt and Istanbul. Their activity was so crucial to the regular supply of these staples that the Sublime Porte was concerned that the frequent disputes between French and

English vessels would adversely affect the traffic of coffee and rice. Therefore, it

prohibited Ottoman merchants and subjects from travelling on foreign vessels. The Sublime Porte also called on the ambassadors of France and England to or

17-Steil4/108, 5 ewal 1108 [2.10.1696]. 18 - See, for example, Daniel and Hamza Crecelius, cAbd al-cAziz Badr, "French ships and their cargoes sailing between Damiette and Ottoman ports 1777-1781", Journal of the Eco nomic and Social History of the Orient, XXXVII (1994), p. 251-273. On piracy as a constant

threat to the maritime commerce of Sal nica, see my article, "Piracy and redemption in the

Aegean Sea during the eighteenth century", Turcica, XXXIII (2001), p. 135-147.

19 - See Murat izak a, A Comparative Evolution of Business Partnership. The Islamic World and Europe, with Specific Reference to the Ottoman Archives, Leiden, Brill, 1996, p. 128-129.

20 - See, as examples for this kind of partnership, the following documents: sicil 12/48, 17 Ramazan 1116 [13.1.1705]; 33/85 26 Cemaziyelahir 1135 [2.4.1723]; 95/9, 7 Muharrem

1174 [18.8.1760].

21 - See the following examples for such partnerships: sicil 1/86, evahir-i Cemaziyelahir 1106

[17-26.1.1695]; 4 Muharrem 1107 [3.9.1695]; 4/99, 28 aban 1108 [22.3.1697].



der their consuls and captains to refrain from any harmful actions that might endanger the vital import of coffee and rice.22 This ban on hiring foreign vessels,

apparently, had some results, as can be deduced from a counter-claim by a Mus lim merchant from Sal nica. He explained his decision to revoke a contract to

load tobacco and steel, bound for Egypt, with a Christian captain from an island near Rhodes on the grounds that the said captain had misled him, making him believe that he was an Ottoman subject while, in fact, he was a foreigner.23 However, foreign vessels continued to connect Ottoman ports: at the beginning of the 19th century foreign vessels clearly dominated this trade route. An edict that reiterates the prohibition on merchant ships carrying any Albanians from the Albanian lands to Egypt, since the Albanians were causing havoc (mucib-ife sad) there, specifies that the route was frequented by foreign merchant ships

-

mostly from the states of Russia and Austria, the republic of Dubrovnik and the

Septinsular Republic.24 The absence of French vessels can be explained by the

Napoleonic wars that were then underway. Establishing a partnership was a frequent option in the Egyptian trade. Its

advantages were obvious. But how could one be sure about the goodwill of a

partner and his commitment to fulfil all his obligations towards his distant part ner? Sharing the perils among people who had reciprocal trust was crucial to cre

ating some degree of mutual confidence. Handling the commerce within the

family circle could give some assurances and, indeed, we possess a few examples of such a commercial strategy, in which one or more members of the family were sent to represent the family's commercial interests in Egypt. Take, for ex

ample, the following, admittedly ill-fated, case of Christian merchants from Sa l nica who traded with Egypt. The group included two Christian brothers and their nephew, the son of a third brother. We glean this information from a claim submitted by one member of the family, Dimo veled Toma against his nephew,

Toma veled Ruso. Apparently, Toma accompanied another uncle, Filibe veled Toma, on his business trip to Cairo. While staying in the Dhulfiqar Katkhuda caravanserai (wakala), one of the main commercial sites in which the coffee trade was concentrated in Cairo,25 Filibe died. Toma, who was present at the time of death, subsequently hid part of his uncle's money.26

22 - Sicil 92/107, evasit-i Zilkade 1171 [17-26.7.1758]. Daily consumption of rice was, ap

parently, restricted in the Ottoman state to the better-off urban households that could afford

it; see Sami Zubaida, "Rice in the culinary cultures of the Middle East" in Sami Zubaida and

Richard Tapper (eds.), Culinary Cultures of the Middle East, London, I.B. Tauris, 1994, p. 94.

23 - Sicil 108/82, 10 Ramazan 1179 [20.2.1766].

IA-Sicil 181/19, Receb 1218(?) [October -November 1803]. On Albanian migrants who

were perceived as a menace in Sal nica, see my article, "Migrants and unskilled local workers

in an Ottoman port-city: Ottoman Sal nica in the eighteenth-century", in Eugene Rogan

(ed.), Outside In: On the Margins of the Modern Middle East, London, I.B. Tauris, 2002, p.

127-149. On the short-living Septinsular Republic (the Ionian Islands), see Katherine Elem

ing, The Muslim Bonaparte -

Diplomacy and Orientalism in Ali Tasha's Greece, Princeton,

Princeton University Press, 1999, p. 101-105.

25 - On the term wakala in Egyptian parlance and on the Dhulfiqar Katkhuda caravanserai

(built in 1673), an enormous edifice that included 32 stores and 35 apartments around a


wo EYAL GINIO

Reliance on family members, then, was not always the safest measure to

adopt. Yet, we clearly see a tendency among Salonican merchants to concentrate

inter-regional commerce in the hands of co-religionists or, even more prevailing, to send a trusted representative to Egypt to supervise the transactions.

Indeed, one of the main characteristics of the Salonican commerce was its

diversity and its reliance on various networks of merchants. Salonican commerce

was divided along sectarian lines: while Greeks, Jews and Ragusans controlled most of the commercial traffic with western Europe as its local representatives, they did not have exclusivity in the commercial traffic as a whole. The local

Muslim merchants predominated in the commerce with Egypt and the Red Sea; Iranian Armenians handled most of the relatively marginal commerce of Sal

-

nica with Iran, which was conducted mainly at the neighbouring seasonal fairs; and Maghribis held sway over the commerce in black slaves imported via North African ports. This division resulted, we can assume, from the emergence of domestic and international commercial networks that relied on the existence of

co-religious merchants on both edges of the network. In such a situation, mu tual confidence could be guaranteed through adherence to the same religious law. A shared cause could increase reciprocal confidence and diminish the risks and uncertainty involved in long-distance trade and lofty financial commit

ments.

Accordingly, most of the Egyptian commerce relied on commercial ties be tween Muslims who lived in Sal nica and their co-religionists who inhabited the

city of Rashid or Cairo itself.27 These Salonican merchants formed a guild of their own that grouped together the merchants of the Egyptian market.

A Competent Guild: the Merchants of the Egyptian Market

Who were the merchants in the Egyptian market? A detailed list that included all of those who received permission to buy timber, one of the main exports of Sal nica to Egypt, from the local authorities proves to be the most complete list. The registration mentions 37 names of Muslims

- some of whom originated from Izmir, Sofia, Ustrumca and Edirne - and only six Greek and four Jewish merchants.28 This indicates that local and foreign Muslims (that is to say Mus lims from other Ottoman cities) were the overwhelmingly majority of those who ventured into this branch of commerce. The data allow us to regard them as a

courtyard and served as a central commercial location for the coffee trade, see Andre Ray mond, Cairo, trans, by Willard Wood, Cambridge, Mass, and London, Harvard University Press, 2000, p. 259-261.

26-Sicil29/82, 27 Zilhicce 1129 [1.12.1717]. 27 - See the following scattered references for commercial partnerships established between

Egyptian Jews and Jews who dwelled in Balkan port cities or in the Greek islands: Eliezer Ba

shan, "Economic life from the 16th to the 18th century", in Jacob M. Landau (ed.), The Jews in Ottoman Egypt (1517-1914), Jerusalem, Misgav Yerushala m, 1988, p. 83-86 [in Hebrew].

28-S/C/Y71/26, 15 Cemaziyelewel 1161 [15.3.1748].


WHEN COFFEE BROUGHT ABOUT WEAL TH WI

genuine class of Muslim merchants.29 Moreover, it seems that the smaller number of Christians who imported

Egyptian goods possessed a guild of their own. We found only one document that clearly refers to the existence of a Christian guild of merchants who traded

with Egypt: the document includes the list of all heads of guilds who repre sented the Christian guilds functioning in Sal nica. The reasons for composing this document were an agreement on the division of taxes inflicted upon the Christian population of the city and a nomination of agents who would imple ment the agreement. Among the various heads of guilds we find the name of Yakomi veled Yorgaki, the head of the merchants who traded with Egypt (mistr ciyan kethu'dasi)}0 However, it is interesting to note that two of the eyewitnesses who testified by their presence to the validity of the legal process31 were Kayser ili zadeh Haci Abdurrahman and his brother, both of them eminent members of the parallel "Muslim" guild of merchants.32 Their signatures may suggest that the two guilds cooperated to some extent.

The merchants' monopoly was embodied in their exclusive right to sell the

Egyptian goods in the Egyptian market. They were not the only people who

imported these goods; Muslim pilgrims represented a resilient competition. Since the Egyptian ports served as an important stopover on the pilgrims' route from the Balkans to the holy cities of the Hejaz, they also took part in the thriv

ing commerce as a means of covering travel costs and even making a profit.

Thus, for example, Haci Abdi bin Haci Mehmet and the Haci Mehmet Efendi established an ad-hoc partnership (sirket-i inan) on their way back from the He

jaz. From their combined fortune of 3,000 gurus, they purchased in Egypt three

bags (torba) of coffee and ten sacks ( uval) of rice assessed in 1,134 gurus. We know of their commercial venture because their ship sank near the island of Cy prus; one of the partners drowned while the other survived. The widow submit ted a claim to recover the value of the merchandise that the survivor was able to rescue and, subsequently, to put it up for sale.33

29 - Notwithstanding, there is also evidence in the sicil of the role of non-Muslims in the

Egyptian trade. Apparently, the non-Muslims were active in the export of tobacco through Sa

l nica to Egypt. See, for example, sicil 111/4, 15 Cemaziyelahir 1180 [19.10.1766]; 111/21,

25 ewalll80 [26.3.1767]. 30 - Sicil 100/8, 6 Rebiyiilewel 1175 [6.10.1761]. 31 - On the eyewitnesses in Islamic legal procedure, see Claude Cahen, "A propos des shu

h d", Studia Isl mica, XXXI (1970), p. 71-79.

32 - On Kayserili zadeh Haci Abdurrahman and his brother, Haci Mehmet Aga, (regularly re

ferred to in the sicil zs "the brother"), see below.

33 - Sicil 33)'85, 26 Cemaziyelahir 1135 [2.4.1723]. However, some of the pilgrims used to

travel by land to Hejaz. In this case they imported the precious coffee directly to Sal nica,

without the need to stop in Egypt to buy it. See skill IMG, ?, Receb 1112 [December 1700

January 1701]. See the following cases in which pilgrims brought with them goods from Hejaz and Egypt: sicil 5/105, 25 Receb 1112 [2.1.1701]; 7/79, 19 Receb lill [10.1.1700]; 33/85, 26 Cemaziyelahir 1135 [2.4.1723]; 34/43, 8 Cemaziyelewel 1136 [4.2.1724].


I02 EYAL GINIO

Other potential competitors, who ventured into the Egyptian trade, came from the ranks of European merchants, though on the grounds of an edict is sued in reply to a petition submitted by a merchant from Dubrovnik we can de duce that their claims to pay reduced customs on the coffee imported from

Egypt were rejected, as such a privilege was granted only on merchandise brought from Christian countries. As Egypt was considered to be part of the Muslim re

gions, the edict stipulated, the Christian merchants had to pay customs like all other merchants.34

However, the Egyptian market was the only place where the Egyptian goods could be sold. The right to exercise this privilege was limited to the merchants who owned a shop inside the Egyptian market and, thus, were part of the guild. When some merchants broke this regulation and sold the Egyptian merchandise inside the city walls, the guild's agent summoned them to court and successfully obtained the authorities' support.35 Attempts by merchants to collaborate with sailors to exploit the darkness of the night to smuggle Egyptian products into the city were also heavily punished.36

As with other guilds, that of the merchants in the Egyptian market func tioned as an organization that assisted its members in times of need. Guild

members could benefit from loans, seemingly at lower borrowing and interest rates, given by the guild through its pious endowments.37 Moreover, as the lead

ing merchants' guild in Sal nica it could also provide its members with a sense of pride and accomplishment manifested through the construction of the guild's Friday mosque.

Manifesting Success, Benevolence and Generosity: the Establishment of the Guilds Friday Mosque

The coffee trade placed the merchants of the Egyptian market in a favoured eco nomic position. Its members' prosperity and sense of being part of a local elite

encouraged them to give to charity and help build religious institutions. This was an appealing option as financial support of religious establishments could enhance the merchants' prestige in the eyes of their fellow towns-people and fos ter feelings of community among their guild's members. Many of the Egyptian

merchants displayed their piety first of all by acquiring the title of haci, a desig nation that testified to their fulfilment of the pilgrimage to the holy cities of the

Hejaz, and also to their ability to devote the financial resources required to exe cute this duty. This title was widespread among these prosperous merchants, much more than the Salonican average: in one case, for example, we have a list

34 - Sicil 59/80, sulh-u Muharrem 1154 [17.4.1741].

35 - Sicil 86/42, ? Cemaziyelewel 1168 [February - March 1755].

36-Sicil 15/106, 8 Rebiy lahir 1118 [19.7.1706]. 37 - See the following references for endowments established in favour of the guild of the merchants in the Egyptian market: sicil 5/5, ? Receb 1114 [November-December 1702]; 13/70, 1 Muharrem 1115 [17.5.1703]; 58/18, ll Rebiy lahir 1153 [6.6.1740].



of 11 merchants who gave a formal declaration in court in support of a Chris tian captain

- all 11 held the pious title of haci?* As noted, the construction of a new mosque could only boost the merchants'

social position and dignity. With the merchants' activity centred in the port area outside the city walls, it is not surprising to find that they directed much of their

charity to this area. Their contribution to the religious-cultural arena is well re flected in the construction of a new Friday mosque that replaced an older and smaller one and in the foundation of an endowment to support this mosque and enable a local Quranic school to be run there.

The Ottoman traveller Evliya elebi (1611-1682) mentioned in his mem oirs that the port of Sal nica had maintained its own mosque, the 'Abdulrauf

mosque. This religious building had served as the local religious site and symbol, visited day and night by traders and sailors who came to petition God for their safe travel.39 This mosque had only a limited space for the worshippers. In 1762 two merchants of the Egyptian market, Kayserili zadeh Haci Abdurrahman Aga and his brother Haci Mehmet Aga, asked, through the local kadi, for the sultan's

permission to construct a new Friday mosque in the Egyptian market inside the

port area. The brothers had previously accumulated assets in the harbour area.40 The second brother, Kayserili zadeh Mehmet Aga, was clearly a prominent member of the guild as he used to represent the guild in court and to serve there sometimes as an eyewitness.41 The merchants explained their request by the ur

gent need to fill a gap in the local community's religious requirements, as the ex

isting mosque was too small to accommodate all the local merchants and the travellers who frequented the port area.42 Their subsequent correspondence with the Sublime Porte discloses an ongoing negotiation about publicly displaying symbols of authority and power. Their request reflects the Muslim merchants'

growing self-confidence and competence connected, undoubtedly, with the pro liferation of coffee consumption.

Their initiative to build a Friday mosque reflects the drama that unfolds when a new social actor claims existing space.43 It should be borne in mind that

38 - Sicil4/98, 28 aban 1108 [20.4.1697]. 39 - Evliya elebi, Evliya elebi Seyahatnamesi, Istanbul, Orhaniye Matbaasi, 1928, vol. 8, p. 152.

40 - See, for example, their purchase of a carpentry workshop from two local customs clerks:

771/37, 23 Muharrem 1171 [7.10.1757]. 41 - His name appears, together with the names of the representatives of all 19 Salonican

guilds, the representatives of the villages situated around Sal nica and the representatives of

the local Christian and Jewish communities, in a declaration registered in the sicil. They all

declared that they had no demands from the two agents who represented them before the local

authorities. Sicil7\l\G, 3 Zilkade 1160 [6.11.1747].

42 - Sicil 101/108, evail-i Rebiy lewel 1176 [19-28.9.1762].

43 - See also Gerber's discussion on endowments that were founded by the public to provide services for the public and were also run by the public itself, as an example of the autono

mous working of civil society and the public sphere in the Ottoman Empire . Haim Gerber,

"The public sphere and civil society in the Ottoman empire", in Miriam Hoexter, Shmuel


I04 EYAL GINIO

most of the early mosques of Sal nica were originally churches or monasteries that were transformed into Muslim sanctuaries during the 15th and 16th centu ries. The conquering sultans, local governors and other representatives of the central authority initiated these transformations and were responsible for this

"religious conquest" of Christian sacred sites.44 However, this mode of establish

ing mosques was over by the 17th century. Sal nica, though boasting consider able economic and administrative importance, was devoid of religious or impe rial prestige and thus lacked the huge building projects financed by the sultans and members of their households. Local communities took over the initiative in Sal nica by erecting and maintaining their own sacred places: neighbourhood mosques and Sufi lodges. This was done, chiefly, by establishing endowments.45

Coming back to the guild's mosque, the two benevolent brothers were able to obtain the sultan's formal permission to nominate a preacher, thus bestowing their 'private' mosque with the status of a Friday mosque.46 Subsequently, they endowed a few commercial assets that they jointly owned to support their mosque permanently and finance its staffs salaries.47 They endowed three big ware

houses, one small warehouse, and 11 shops - all situated inside the port area.

The founders stipulated that these assets were to be rented to tenants. The fees received would serve for paying the daily allowances to the preacher and the

prayer leader in "their" mosque. Another beneficiary was the children's teacher in the school that the founders had built adjacent to their mosque. The founders also bestowed allowances upon those who read Quranic phrases in the mosque and gave the awaited recompense to the founders' souls.48 They nominated

Eisenstadt and Nehamia Levtzion (eds.), The Public Sphere in Muslim Societies, Albany, State

University of New York Press, 2002, p. 75-77.

44 - Machiel Kiel, "Notes on the history of some Turkish monuments in Thessaloniki and their founders", Balkan Studies, XI (1970), p. 123-148.

45 - The refurbishment of the Kasimiye mosque, known in Byzantine times as St. Dimitrios, can serve as a pertinent example of this shift. The religious staff working in the mosque, the inhabitants of the Kasimiye neighbourhood that surrounded it, and local notables and people from all over the district asked the Sublime Porte to approve the mosque's refurbishment.

They noted in their petition that the mosque had once served as a church and that the late sul tan Bayezid had transformed it into a mosque by building a pulpit and a mihrab. However,

they noted, the sultan did not found an endowment in favour of the mosque nor did he nominate an administrator to supervise its affairs. Consequently, with the passing of time, the

mosque became dilapidated to the extent that it could no longer serve as a suitable place for

prayer. Therefore, they asked the sultan to accord them the funds to undertake the necessary renovations. It is interesting to see the change in attitudes between the 16th century and the 18th: while, according to the document, the transformation of the church to a mosque was

initiated and executed by the sultan; in the 18th century, it was the local community, espe cially the inhabitants of the Kasimiye neighbourhood, who took upon themselves the task of

maintaining "their" mosque. See sicil, 41/41, evasit-i Receb 1140 [21.2-2.3.1727]. 46 - See the nomination of the first preacher following the sultan's approval for designating the mosque as a Friday mosque: sicil 101/109, evail-i Rebiy lewel 1176 [19-28.9.1762].

47 - The endowment deed is fully registered in sicil 102/59, 14 Zilhicce 1176 [26.6.1763]. 48 - This kind of stipulation was frequently mentioned in endowment deeds issued in Salo



themselves, and their descendants after them, as the endowment administrators (miitevveli). They stipulated that in the case that all of their descendants died

without leaving any progeny behind, the heads of the merchants in the Egyptian market's guild would serve as administrators. They further stipulated that all the merchants in the Egyptian market would serve as supervisors (naztr) of the en dowment's accounts. Thus, they were able permanently to connect the mosque with the guild. Finally, the founders allocated a regular allowance to students who learned in the medrese situated in the Aya Sofya mosque in central Sal nica. This last allocation demonstrates that the merchants in the Egyptian market widened the scope of their charity outside the port area boundaries.49 The mer chants' high status is demonstrated by the long list of local religious and admin istrative dignitaries who served as eyewitnesses to the legal process.

The construction of a mosque and a school and the founding of an endow ment enabled them to hope for a better future in the hereafter; it could also en hance their social prominence and provide them with the means to manifest wealth, piety and generosity in a suitable manner. The construction of a Friday mosque that was connected to the guild of the merchants in the Egyptian mar ket must have been the zenith and the reflection of these merchants' achieve ments.

Conclusion

Svoronos relied mostly on European sources to portray Salonican trade. This re

liance proves to be fruitful and sufficient with regard to the expansion of the Greek element in the European commerce. However, one must remember that

the European sources concentrated mainly on the commercial branches that in terested them. Consequently, they present only part of the historical reality. The sicil discloses the narrative of the local administration. Its files clearly demon strate that the local authorities regarded the trade with Egypt as the most impor tant branch of commerce, due to the commodities this commerce provided for Sal nica - basic staples, such as coffee and rice that were regarded as essential for the local population. Muslim merchants were those who particularly, but not

exclusively, embarked upon this trade. The sicil demonstrates their wealth and the range of their commercial networks, which involved partnerships and com

mercial links and stretched from the interior of the Balkans to the Egyptian coast and beyond.

These documents reveal, as well, the role played by these merchants in the

city's administrative and religious activities. They were among those who repre sented the local population before the local authorities, as part of the guild sys tem; their leaders demonstrated their benevolence and generosity through erect

ing religious and charitable establishments in the port area, as well as in the city centre.

nica. See my article, "

Every soul shall taste death -

dealing with death and the afterlife in

eighteenth-century Sal nica", Studio, Isl mica, XCIII (2001), p. 113-132.

49 - Sicil 102/59, 14 Zilhicce 1176 [26.6.1763].


io6 EYAL GINIO

This description reveals the emergence of a merchants' guild imbued with self-confidence and a sense of success. However, their fall was imminent. The

competition caused by the import of colonial products through French harbours offered the Ottoman consumer a cheaper option, even though the quality was not necessarily superior. This new competition, and especially the inability of the Egyptian commerce to compete with the cheap cost of colonial products, caused the prompt decline of Egyptian commerce all over the Ottoman state.50 The import of colonial goods sustained impressive growth by the mid-18th cen

tury. This development turned the Ottoman empire from a major coffee ex

porter to an importer of this product.51 The Salonican merchants must have been affected too by this influx of cheap coffee. Indeed, several references from the sicil that appear already from the late 1730s indicate that coffee was im

ported also from Europe, most likely from the West Indies through Marseilles.52 As the 18th century came to a close this trend must have intensified for financial considerations if no other. We do have a few later references to Salonican mer chants who often visited Egypt, but in search of commodities other than coffee. A business letter from the Cairo Geniza mentions the name of Abraham Ginio, a Jewish merchant from Sal nica who was involved in drapery transactions be tween Sal nica and Egypt.53 Greek migrants arrived in Egypt through the 19th

century seeking opportunities offered by the growing European presence in

Egypt. The Macedonian tobacco that continued to lure Egyptian consumers en sured the continuation of commercial activity along the maritime route between

Macedonia (Sal nica, but especially Kavala) and Egypt in those years.54 Yemeni coffee, previously the major staple of the Egyptian trade, by now

had disappeared from Salonican markets.55 The importance of the merchants'

guild of the Egyptian market diminished as well. Only a few remnants of their achievements survived into the 20th century: the guild's mosque stood near the harbour gate until 1917, when it was destroyed during the great fire that devas tated much of the city. Its founders' attempt to gain eternal memory was even

50 - Andr Raymond, "L'impact de la p n tration europ en sur l' conomie de l'Egypte au

XVIIIe si cle", Annales islamologiques, XVIII (1982), p. 217-235.

51 - Edhem Eldem, French Trade in Istanbul in the Eighteenth Century, Leiden, Brill, 1999, p. 68-89. See also Svoronos, Ie commerce de Salonique, p. 232-233.

52 - See the following petition in which the petitioners claim to have the exclusive right to

collect, as tax farmers, the customs on coffee that arrives from Egypt and Europe (Efrenc): sicil

55/53, 29 Zilkade 1150 [20.3.1738]. 53 - Alisa Meyuhas-Ginio, "The Ginios of Salonika and wine production in Jerusalem", in

Elliott Horowitz and Moises Orfali (eds.), The Mediterranean and The Jews: Society, Culture and Economy in Early Modern Times, Ramat-Gan, Bar-Ilan University Press, 2002, p. 166.

54 - Meropi Anastassiadou, Salonique, 1830-1912. Une ville ottomane l' ge des R formes, Leiden, Brill, 1997, p. 101-102.

55 - Coffee, however, continued to be served in the coffeehouses of Ottoman Sal nica. See

Meropi Anastassiadou, "Les caf s Salonique sous les derniers Ottomans", in H l ne Desmet Gr goire and Fran ois Georgeon (eds.), Caf s d'Orient revisit s, Paris, CNRS Editions, 1997,

p. 79-90.



less successful. Dimitriadis mentions in his book on Ottoman Sal nica that the

mosque was still known in the official records of 1906 as the endowment of

Kayseriii Hacci Abdurrahman Efendi and Abd rrahim Efendi [sic !] . However, he continues, it is not known who they were or when they lived.56 There is also evidence that the character of the wealthy Muslim merchant from Egypt sur

vived, for example, in the popular Ottoman shadow plays (Karag z) and their Greek local variant - the Karagiozis theatre.57 In Sal nica today a small alley that bears the name "Egyptou Street" is all that remains of the once-thriving Egyptian market.58

56 - Vasilis Dimitriadis, Tonoypa ia rrj eoacdoviKn Kara rrjv Eno/n rn TovpKOKpatia 1430-1912 [Topography of Sal nica during the Turkish Rule], Thessaloniki, Etaireia Make

donien Spoudon, 1983, p. 330-331.

57 - See, for example, the character of Mouhtar Bey, a wealthy Egyptian merchant who fasci

nates everyone with his wealth and lavish habits. His character dominates the comic play

"Karagiozis Baker'. Kostas Myrsiades and Linda Myrsiades, Karagiozis: Three Classic Plays, New York, Pella, 1999, p. 25-99.

58 - For a short description of this alley and its glamorous past, see Christos Zafiris, The Thes

saloniki Handbook, Athens, Exanadas, 1997, p. 162.


Article Contentsp. [93]p. 94p. 95p. 96p. 97p. 98p. 99p. 100p. 101p. 102p. 103p. 104p. 105p. 106p. 107

Issue Table of ContentsOriente Moderno, Vol. 25 (86), No. 1 (2006) pp. I-IV, 1-200Front MatterEDITORS' PREFACE [pp. I-IV]VILLAGERS IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE: THE CASE OF CHERVENA VODA, SEVENTEENTH TO THE BEGINNING OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES [pp. 1-20]THE INFLUENCE OF THE MARKET ON THE URBAN AGRARIAN SPACE: THE CASE OF THE TOWN OF ARCADIA IN 1716 [pp. 21-49]COMMERCE AND MERCHANTS UNDER AMR BAR II: FROM MARKET TOWN TO COMMERCIAL CENTRE [pp. 51-63]BUILDING ALLIANCES: A CHRISTIAN MERCHANT IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY KARAFERYE [pp. 65-75]THE COMMERCIAL PRACTICES AND PROTOINDUSTRIAL ACTIVITIES OF HACI HRISTO RACHKOV, A BULGARIAN TRADER AT THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH TO THE BEGINNING OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY [pp. 77-91]WHEN COFFEE BROUGHT ABOUT WEALTH AND PRESTIGE: THE IMPACT OF EGYPTIAN TRADE ON SALONICA [pp. 93-107]MARKET NETWORKS AND OTTOMAN-EUROPEAN COMMERCE, C. 1700-1825 [pp. 109-128]OTTOMAN GREEKS IN THE DUTCH LEVANT TRADE: COLLECTIVE STRATEGY AND INDIVIDUAL PRACTICE (C. 1750-1821) [pp. 129-147]SLAVE HUNTING AND SLAVE REDEMPTION AS A BUSINESS ENTERPRISE: THE NORTHERN BLACK SEA REGION IN THE SIXTEENTH TO SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES [pp. 149-159]THE OTTOMANS AND THE YEMENI COFFEE TRADE [pp. 161-171]OTTOMANS AND THE INDIA TRADE IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY: SOME NEW DATA AND RECONSIDERATIONS [pp. 173-179]HAMZA EFEND'S TREATISE ON BUYING AND SELLING OF 1678 [pp. 181-186]LAW AND TRADE IN THE EARLY FIFTEENTH-CENTURY THE CASE OF CAGI SATI OGLU [pp. 187-191]PUBLIC GOOD AND PRIVATE EXPLOITATION: CRITICISM OF THE TOBACCO RGIE IN 1909 [pp. 193-200]Back Matter

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